I’d gotten to be friends with Greta and Nora when I’d joined the quiz bowl team, something I’d never heard of before we arrived in Prescott but which was, at least at Sunrise Academy, averybig deal. My dads had teased me that I’d been preparing to join a team like this my whole life—that my love of facts was finally coming in handy. And I don’t know if that was the reason, but our team wasgood. We made it through Regionals, won State, and got to represent Arizona in the Nationals, but ended up coming in second to the winners from North Dakota. Greta had assured me that I shouldn’t feel bad about it—North Dakota always won. Apparently, when you couldn’t go outside for six months of the year, there was nothing to do except memorize facts.
We’d left Arizona early that summer, heading to La Jolla, where my dads were working on a seaside renovation. Every now and then I’d get a question right when Angelo and Oscar were watchingJeopardy!and I’d smile, knowing it was because of my time on the quiz team. I’d really liked Greta and Nora and I’d had nothing but good memories of my time in Arizona. So I didn’t understand why they were both acting like this now. “It’s really surprising to see you here,” I said to them, then drew in a sharp breath as the car started rising again.
We were almost at the summit, which I really didn’t like, because that meant I could see just how high up we were as the car rolled back and forth over the track, swinging a lot harder than really seemed to be necessary. I could see most of the park now, lit up and glowing against the darkness—and just in front of us, I could see the Silly Symphony Swings—the ride Ishouldhave been on.
“So, you thought you’d never see us again, huh?” Nora asked, narrowing her eyes at me. “That’s what you were counting on?” She paused and sniffed. “Does anyone else smell orange soda?”
I felt my cheeks burn. “What do you mean, what I was counting on?” The ride started to move again, going faster now, but at least we were starting to go downward, which meant it was almost over. “And why are you mad at me? I haven’t seen either of you in two years.” I shook my head before I remembered that I shouldn’t do that.
“Exactly.” Greta pointed at me like I’d just proven something. “Because you were justgonewhen school started junior year.”
“Yeah, because Imoved.” What was she so mad about? I’d stayed until the end of the year, after all. We’d gone to Nationals and had brought home a trophy. I’d done what I always tried to do—depart at the top, with everyone happy. “I told you, my dads’ jobs mean—”
“But you never told us you were leaving,” Nora said, and I was surprised to hear a ribbon of hurt running underneath her words, breaking through the anger and annoyance.
“You didn’t tell them?” Bryony asked, sounding shocked.
“Well,” I started, just as the car stopped again. I peered out of the car, trying to see where we were. If six on a clock was the ground—which I desperately wanted to return to—we were at three. We were so close—why weren’t wedone? My stomach dropped and flipped again as the car, once more, slid back and forth. I took a deep breath, then made myself let it out slowly. Why would anyone ride this? Did people actuallylikefeeling this way? Or were they just pretending?
“She didn’t tell us,” Greta confirmed, folding her arms over her chest.
“Look, I don’t know what you want me to say,” I said, making myself sit up straighter. I was learning in real time that it’s hard to be in an argument when you’re also worried you might throw up in front of everyone in an enclosed space. “It wasn’t my decision to move.”
“But it was your decision not to tell us,” Greta said. “School started and you just weren’t there. Suddenly, all your social media had vanished and you weren’t responding to texts….”
“Not to mention,” Nora chimed in, “you totally screwed us with AQB.”
“Withwhat, now?” Bryony asked.
“Academic quiz bowl,” Greta, Nora, and I all said at the same time.
“Quiz bowl?” Bryony echoed. “Like—bowling?”
“No,” Greta said, sounding horrified. “It’s an academic knowledge competition, and—”
“And…you did this?” Bryony turned to me, sounding more confused than ever. “Isthiswhy you know so many random facts?”
“No, that predated this. I told you about it,” I said, even as I tried to think back. I must have mentioned it at some point. I was pretty sure.
“No, I definitely would have remembered you telling me you did something calledquiz bowl.” A second later, she glanced over at Greta and Nora. “Uh, no offense.”
“We were really good,” Greta explained to Bryony, like the reason she wasn’t impressed by the idea of quiz bowl was because she didn’t know our stats. “We went all the way to Nationals when Cass was on our team. We came in second!”
“Oh.” Bryony looked over at me, and it was like she was trying to figure out who I was. “Um. Congratulations?”
“And we would have won the next year,” Nora said, shaking her head. “But then Cass screwed it all up for us.”
I frowned at that—it was one thing to have people mad at you for what you’d done. But to be blamed for something you weren’t evenpresentfor seemed unfair. I took a breath to point this out, when we started moving again. We were approaching the ground, and I couldn’t be happier about it. But instead of stopping in front of the cast members and getting off, the car just kept on going. “Wait, stop,” I called, as we rose up into the air, the car swaying more violently than ever. “Why are we going around again?”
Bryony shot me a sympathetic look. “You go around twice.”
“We have to do thisagain?”
“Uh. Yeah. But just one more time!” Bryony said with the tone of someone clearly trying to find the bright side but not quite pulling it off.
The car rolled sharply forward, then swung back, and then tipped forward once more. I gripped the seat, trying to breathe. I glanced over at Greta and Nora and realized I’d never gotten an answer. “Wait a second, you said I hurt thenextyear’s team?” They both nodded. “How did I do that? I wasn’t even on it!”
“Exactly!” Nora ?said. “Youweren’tthere. And that was the problem. If we’d known you wouldn’t be a part of things, we would have been actively recruiting. Instead, when the year started, we were a team member down and scrambling. We ended up with this completely useless freshman.”
